Chapter One
At a table in one of the darker corners of the Dancing Pony nightclub in Divine, Bunny Carrigan shifted in her seat, watching the scene unfold across the club. Joseph Hazelle was being chatted up at the bar by a busty and seemingly oblivious blonde, who evidently had a lot on her mind.
Violet nudged her gently with an elbow. “Come on, Bunny. He’s too polite to scare her the hell off by telling her he enjoys putting naughty girls over his knee and giving them spankings. Of all of us, you should be the one to save him.”
Bunny rolled her eyes and snorted. “As if I have some kind of magic powers? Joseph Hazelle is a big boy, and I’m sure he can take care of himself.”
Violet pooched out a lip. “The last time I talked to him he was so quiet.”
Bunny knew what Violet was getting at and didn’t want to go there. “He’s always quiet. I’d have better luck pulling hens’ teeth than I would getting him to talk to me. Maybe he has a reason for being quiet. For all we know, he’s enjoying her attentions, no matter how ignorant she might be about his interests.”
Joseph Hazelle didn’t advertise the fact that he was a Dom, although his dark, you-should-be-kneeling vibe was rather hard to overlook. Or maybe it’s just me who’s knocked off balance every time the man walks into a room. All he had to do was look at her and she went weak in the knees, remembering how his warm lips felt mashing her own, or the way his hard hands gripped her ass cheeks and held her immobile with his body pressed against hers—
“She’s thinking about sex,” Cassie Resendez said with a snicker.
Jessica Bright nodded as she sipped from her glass of sangria and then said, “Or at least sex with a certain person.”
Violet burst into giggles. “Y’all be nice. Come on, honey, go rescue the poor man. I’d go and pretend to be his submissive and save him, but Josh and Lucas wouldn’t be very happy if they caught me cozied up to him.”
She was doing a quick check of her makeup and fixing her lip liner before she even realized she planned to do exactly what Violet was proposing.
“Oh yeah,” Cassie said with an enthusiastic squeal when Bunny got up from the chair and made sure everything was in place. Jeans falling perfect on the tops of her pointy-toe boots. Check. Cleavage showing, but not too much. Check. Makeup perfect and lips glossy and inviting. Check. Blushing because now I’m thinking about wrapping them around Joseph’s cock. Check. Get on with it, girl!
A hand restrained her gently, and she looked back to its owner, her new friend, Grace Warner. Grace grinned at her. “You know what you’re about to do, right?”
Bunny nodded while her inner angel was shaking her head hard enough to make her lips flap. “Save a guy who’s in need of a wingman?”
Grace giggle-snorted. “You’re in for a surprise if you think that’s all that’s happening here, but I think you’re the best woman for the job. One suggestion, though.”
“Yes, please, anything, because I still need to read those books Violet sold me on submission. None of this comes naturally for me.”
Grace took in her appearance, which made Bunny feel encouraged rather than inspected, and nodded. “I think it comes more naturally than you realize, sweetie. Avert your eyes when you talk to him.”
“Avert my eyes?”
Grace nodded sagely before taking a sip of her margarita. In the seat next to her, Ethan Grant, one of Grace’s devoted husbands, winked at Bunny. He was the reason she was at the Dancing Pony. After doing some work on the club’s audio system the week before, he’d invited her to come out with their group. Bunny hadn’t been out for an evening of fun in ages, and it felt good to be included.
She didn’t think Ethan had heard her quiet conversation with Grace, but then he nodded at Joseph at the bar and looked at her expectantly, as if to say, “Off you go, good little subbie.”
Violet patted her encouragingly, and Bunny approached the bar, where Joseph was seated. The blonde continued talking a mile a minute as Bunny edged close to him.
“And I was like, look at me, asshole. I’m just as good as her and if you can’t see that then you need to stay with your ho, honey. And he was like, I’m lookin’, boo, and all I can say is I want both of you, and I’m all like, dude, seriously? You’re already too skinny. If you’ve got both us workin’ you, you’re gonna dry up like a corn husk and blow away. I’m like, I need a man. Someone who can take care of my needs, who can take care of this,” she said, waving her hand down her body in a grand gesture. “So, I was like, bitch, you can have his ass. And he was like…”